Clip applicators are surgical instruments setting (applying) tissue clips on the tissue of a patient, for instance for closing a seam or a vessel. This avoids an expensive suturing process, which is advantageous in particular in case of operation sites which are difficult to access from outside.
A generic clip applicator is known, for instance, from DE 20 2011 000 755 U1. This kind of clip applicator can be used in open and endoscopic surgery for quickly and reliably connecting tissue structures of a patient, who has to be operated, by applying and subsequently closing preferably U-shaped or V-shaped clips. Such a clip applicator may be especially used to pinch off blood vessels of a patient in short time and in a reliable manner. Different clip types can be used here, which may differ from one another in terms of their shape, but also in size and thickness.
The clip applicator described in document DE 20 2011 000 755 U1, whose disclosure content is incorporated hereby in the subject-matter of the present application, comprises a handgrip part to which a clip magazine having an integrated clip storage means can be fastened in detachable fashion. In this arrangement, the handgrip part is provided and correspondingly arranged to be used several times as a reusable part. In contrary, the clip magazine is provided and correspondingly arranged to be used as a disposable part only until the clips stored in the clip storage means of the clip magazine are used up.
Although this clip applicator can be made available at comparably low costs and also allows a comparatively safe way of applying and closing the clips, it would be desirable to improve the handling of the clip applicator. This desire results from the fact that the handgrip part of this clip applicator is merely provided to be combined with clip magazines of the same design, the same clip type and the same clip size. In other words, only one clip type can be applied with one and the same handgrip part, despite the replacement of individual clip magazines. This means that a plurality of various handgrip parts as well as a plurality of different clip magazines perhaps have to be kept available in the surgery room, and any combination of handgrip part and clip magazine can be used only for a single clip type. This, however, is disadvantageous in terms of the spatial conditions and the clarity in the surgery room.
Another prior art is described in DE 44 29 084 C1. The clip applicator described therein likewise allows for a comparably simple replacement of a clip magazine which can be detachably inserted through a lateral cutout in a tubular shaft of the clip applicator. Here, the clip magazine is designed as a disposable part, whereas a handgrip part and the tubular shaft which can be fastened thereto are configured as reusable parts. Further, this clip applicator offers the possibility to fasten different tubular shafts, which may differ from one another for instance in their shaft length, to a single handgrip part. Although this clip applicator allows for a relatively flexible handling, the application of different clip types still requires to change both the tubular shaft and the clip magazine. This is why it is still desirable to improve the handling of the clip applicator of the type described at the outset.
Further, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,599,298 B1 discloses a clip applicator comprising a handgrip part and a clip magazine which can be fastened thereto, both being designed as a disposable part. In this arrangement, the clip magazine is integrated in a shaft of the clip applicator and different shaft lengths allow to stock up or store a different number of clips and to apply them, if necessary. However, also this clip applicator does not offer the possibility to apply different clip types with the same clip applicator, so that the desire remains to improve the handling of the clip applicator of the kind described above.